Polish Army Liberation Field Trip

Yes, the hat is just a bit big for me mom!

On Friday the two youngest girls and I went on a school field trip.  This field trip wasn’t just as simple as going to the local zoo or apple orchard.  This field trip we went to a Polish Army training base and learned out about how they train and what kind of equipment they use along with 700+ other kids.  This I would have to say this was IS the coolest field trip that I have been on in the 13 years I have had kids in school.

The local news station TVP-Bydgoszcz was there as well, doing a segment for the nightly news.  Yes, it is in Polish but a few seconds of it is in English because I  got interviewed and my Polish language skills is not up to a conversation level yet.  Click HERE to see the clip.

Below are just a FEW of the pictures that I took of the trip.

Of course the little ones don’t care about bullets they would rather look for rocks!

Local TV crew doing interviews.

Now the fighting is done so out go the kids to find the shell casings.

And the got the bad guy!

They caught the bad guy.

Here comes our hero’s!

My girls!

AnnaFleur and her teacher.

Lunch time.

Lunch was Polish pea soup and it tasted GREAT!

AnnaFleur on top of the tank.

Inside the tank.

Who cares if there is pretend war going on, we are hungry!

Gas mask trying time.

Paintball, the best part according to the kids.

Crash test chair.

Sorry Dad I am going the Army!

Yes the hat is just a bit big for me, mom!

Let the craziness begin!

Here comes the helicopter to land.

Paintball anyone?

Grades 0 & 1 of the girls school.

And away we go!

So what is the best field trip that you have gone on with your kids?

Palace Ostromecko

Isn't the view of Palace Ostromecko beautiful?

Few weeks ago my husband and I had to attend a social for his work.  Let me tell you it was rough having to put on a nice dress, do my hair, eat someone else’s cooking and finally meeting a few of my  husband’s work buddies.  But the best part was where this social was held at.  It was held in one of the oldest buildings in this area, Palace Ostrecko, which is just outside of Bydgoszcz about 3 kilometers.

This is my first palace in Poland that I have been to and it did not disappoint me!  As you can see by the pictures below that place is AMAZING!  We were told by several people that we needed to go there and now I can see why.

The palace was built in 1832-1848.  Over the years many rooms where added to it by different owners.  There are actually 2 palaces on this location along with a magnificent park with lots of greenery.  Throughout time Polish freedom fighters, Napoleon’s Army and the Prussion Army have all used the main palace at one time or another.  Today it is owned by the city of Bydgoszcz.  During the spring and summer is hosts music concerts, open-air events, exhibitions and many other activities.  The palace also has a restaurant and 22 hotel rooms.

I can’t wait until the weather gets better so we can what it looks like when everything is green!

A lot of dutch came to the is area and here are the tiles to prove it on the fireplace.

The desert area, need I say more?

The dining room.

A private dining room and the only real quite spot once the social started.

Another hall with more food.

Yes, I liked the ceiling and the light fixtures in place.

Another hall.

The non-alcoholic beverage area. Needless to say Jim and I had plenty of options to choose from!

Now if you were a wine drinker you weren’t short any options that night!

Aren’t the ceiling neat?

One of the halls with GREAT food and music for us!

Isn’t the view of Palace Ostromecko beautiful?

Wordless Wednesday (#2)

Well it’s Wednesday and that means little or no words from me!  So here is how we spent the last week.

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So what fun family thing did you do this past week?

Want to join my Wordless Wednesday? Add your blog to the list and/or click some and see what others people are up too!

Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

Why pay full price when you can get it second hand?

Every Monday morning after dropping off my two little ones off to school you will find me and a few of the other moms at a local second hand clothing store called “Fuks.”   I have yet to figure out what is the correct way to say the name because of what I might hear.    Now why do we shop there on Monday’s?  Because on Monday everything is marked down to 2 or 3 zlotys’ (50 to 75 cents).  Normally the clothing is marked anywhere from 2 for a gently used pair of kids short to 35 for a dress or winter jacket.

When you go on Monday’s make sure you shop with your elbows up and out.  Why?  The people are brutal when it comes to shopping and discounts.  I know this is a poorer economy compared to other places that I have lived but they take no prisoners.  When I get there it is usually about 8:55am and there is already a line at least 5 people deep and by the time the doors open at 9am there is about 15 to 20 people.  Then within the next 5 minutes the store easily has 30+ people.  With this many people you quickly look through the clothes and grab whatever you think you might want to buy because if you don’t there is good chance it will be gone when you come back. You think I am kidding?

See I am not!  But if you are willing to deal with a group like this you can get some really good deals!  Here is the jackpot that I got yesterday..

I snagged 3 pairs of pants, 2 shirts and 2 pot-holders for myself, 1 shirt and 1 tie for Jim, 1 really cool stocking for my oldest daughter and for my 2 little ones, 3 dresses,  5 pairs of pants, 1 shirt, 1 skirt and 1 costume(you can never have to many dress up clothes!)  If you have keeping track there is also 4 ties and 3 belts.  Now the 4 ties are for Easter egg dye that I saw on Pinterest (head over to my Pinterest “Holiday Ideas” board to see what I am talking about).  The 3 belts well Ella I think claimed the pink one but for the other 2 I am going to cut off the buckle part and make either headbands or some kind of fun jewelry with them.

I got all of this for only…..60 zloty or $15!

As you can see I LOVE second-hand stores especially if you are going to repurpose the items like I do or if you have kids are rough on clothes like mine they are going to look like this within 2 washes anyway!

So the girls wanted to do a fashion show for you with my fashion finds. Here is what they look like up close and personal!

This is handmade. I LOVE IT!!!

Are you a second shopper?  Why or why not?

Chuck Norris takes over Poland

I LOVED the TV show “Walker, Texas Ranger, ” and I guess you could say an overall Chuck Norris fan.  One of the local banks here WBK, current ad campaign involves the one and only Chuck Norris.  You can’t go 5 minutes around Bydgoszcz without seeing him on a billboard, a street sign or driving past one of their banks.  Now they have really started pushing their TV ad on Polish television.

Click HERE follow this link to see a Youtube clip of one of the TV spots.  I found one with English subtitles so we all can understand it as my Polish only involves counting numbers and greetings.

So one question I have though is, does this guy ever age?

Wordless Wednesday

Sometimes there is no reason for words, just let the picture do the talking.

So here is my week in Poland in pictures!

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So anything exciting happen to you this week?

Yes, I get homesick for North Dakota!

Well today the weather was absolutely amazing to go for a walk with the 2 little one’s so the oldest could do some homework Youtube time in piece and quiet.   At the end of our block is one of Bydgoszcz’s famous canals.   Every time I either drive or walk by it, I get a bit homesick for North Dakota.  The mallard’s bring back some great childhood memories with my dad, grandpa and my uncle Dave and their love for hunting these ducks and the fun family weekends hunting together.  But then I also remember the nasty smell of cleaning them which is not so great!

So what is your fondest memory of doing things with your family?

Want to go for a walk?

So yesterday I had to drop off my oldest daughter at our church for our youth seminary program.  My two youngest are out of school for 2 weeks for winter break, so instead of hanging out at the church we went for nice hour walk.  Well here are a few pictures of what it looks like within 2 blocks of our church in downtown Bydgoszcz.

a way we go!

time to clean the statue

Can we please have some? But it is how cold outside?

outside of church

inside of church

flower shop row

I like these!

the local police who typically walk around town

Diner 52, American burgers & milkshakes. Great food!

Passage ways between the different buildings, you would be amazed what you find sometimes!

Public transportation

Little kiosks that you can by just anything! They are everywhere.

People handing out fliers for different businesses are everywhere too!.

Our church building

the walk wore us out!

Now can you all see why I am falling in love with

Bydgoszcz, Poland?

7th Birthday Polish Style

It’s hard to believe but our little girl turns 7 years old today.  Living here in Bydgoszcz for only last 9 weeks telling a soon to be 7 year old little girl that we don’t knew where to throw a Birthday party for here is just was going to happen.  Her little sister was invited a birthday party about a month ago for a fellow classmate and Ella didn’t forget about it! So Family Park here we come (aka polish version of Chuck Cheese without the pizza and McDonald’s play-areas without the Happy Meals.)

So off I go to Family Park to try to book a birthday party with my limited Polish!  Well to my surprise some of the staff spoke English but then again when most of the staff is under 21 by the looks of it, English is usually not a problem.

And away we go!.

Ella and AnnaFleur with a friend at the entrance to Family Park and yes it was a wee bit cold that afternoon, -9 C on Saturday.

All kids getting a welcome from our 2 party hosts.  These 2 were amazing!  They watch those 15 kids like hawk.   Jim and I didn’t have to lift a finger the whole 2 hours of the party.

Here the birthday child is the king/queen for the day.  So the entire party went on stage to sing Happy Birthday to Ella in Polish and English.  I was amazed how much Polish the girls have learned the 9 weeks we have been here.  They both knew how to sing in Polish from the few parties that we have already been too.

Now it is time to make a wish!  Yes, that is a firework on top of her cake.  The only bad part of the party is your are not allowed to bring your own cake in.  So no American birthday cake this year!

After that we went off to our own private party room.  They have 6 different themed rooms to choose from.  Of course Ella choose the Princess room.  Here they had lots of snacks and juice for the kids to eat. (and for parents to snack on!)

Ella showing off her cake name plate.  Pure chocolate so she was in HEAVEN!

Jim taking with some friends of ours.  They are another American family here from where Jim works.  While there might not be many Americans here we are a tight bunch.  I am thankful for people like them that have just welcomed us with such open arms! The rest of the parents were smart and huge out in another room that had sofas, table’s and T.V.’s and enjoyed coffee and left over birthday cake.

Present time!

After presents they took them to do some bowling.  No strikes that day.

The girls being girls.

Then it was off to drive the go-karts.  Do you think Ella is having fun?

AnnaFleur and her Korean friend(one of the reason why I love here we have ALL nationalities here!) driving their go-kart.  AnnaFleur has NO fear at all, she a speed demon on the cart.

Then it was off to shoot Nerf like balls at each other in another room.  Have I mentioned I don’t have to do a thing during this party?  Our 2 party hosts totally kept the kids in control the entire time.

They say a man’s work is never done.  Well here is good ole’ dad having to quick do a thing or two for work, unfortunately.  And yes he has blue shoe covers on because outside shoes are not allowed to keep everything clean.  So your options are no shoes and only socks or shoe covers.  During the winter time I highly recommend keeping your shoes on, it’s a bit chilly in there.

After all the playing, it’s time for more food!  The kids got to choose from chicken strips or fish sticks and fries.  Or course 14 kids chose chicken!

Now that the offiical birthday party was done, it was finally time for this….a HUGE play area that the girls get lost in for hours.  “Heaven” through a child’s eyes!

AnnaFleur thinking ” Are these real??  Inside they had this cute little fish pond with Koi fish.

AnnaFleur is glued to this drumming game. We might have a future drummer on our hands!

Yes, even in Poland there is access to a sugar high! They were only 3zt each(about $1.)  These kids for the most part weren’t going home with me, so why not give them a sugar high?

So this is what a 7 year old looks like when you tell her it is time to go after being there for 4 hours!  “But mom, do we have too? It’s my birthday and I can do what ever I want!”  Mom – “1….2……….”

Overall I think Ella and her 14 friends had a great time at Family Park.  After seeing how they destroyed Family Park, Jim and I think it was worth the little bit of extra money not to destroy our house!  Now time to start planning Lydia’s sweet 16 birthday for March

For more information about Family Park here in Bydgoszcz here is a link to their site…http://www.familypark.pl/  If you don’t read Polish, open the site up through Google and it will automatic translate to what ever language you read.